a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Draft Workout Odds and Ends, Edition #2

(Image on the right via @dianaallen. Head over here for her great coverage of the workout.)

Yeah, this is going to be Michael Stockton-centric and that’s partially me and partially the way the media covered it. You have to think many of the reporters that have been covering the Jazz for ages had “whoa” moments when thinking about how they used to see the young Stockton kids in the stands and now Michael’s starting his pro ball career. Not to mention I kept seeing flashes of John as he spoke and in his mannerisms…

What does it mean to be here?
It’s a dream come true. It really is. I know I’m not going to play for the Jazz or anything like that, but ever since I was a little kid, all I wanted was to be like my dad and play for the Jazz. As I got older, I realized that’s not as easy as it seems, so I’m just fortunate to be a part of this organization whether it’s for an hour as a workout or [whatever the case may be]. I’m just happy that I got to come to this. (FOX)

Advice from Dad
It was the same thing as always. I talked to him last night, and he said, “Make sure you go in there and compete. Don’t be afraid of anybody. You can play with these guys.” I’ve always believed in myself, and one of those main reasons is because he’s helped me to do it. (Trib)

Where do you see your basketball career headed?
I don’t think it’s on this continent. Like I said, I believe in myself and I believe I can play with anybody, but the NBA is a complete different level, and that takes a lot of experience. I’m not there yet and that’s OK. Will I ever be there? I don’t know, but my focus is trying to go across the pond and find something. (Trib)

Identical size as John
The last time I came to a Lakers game at the end of the year with my dad, Coach Tom Nissalke said, “You know, you’re the spitting image of your dad when he was your age” and I said, “You’re telling me there’s a chance so I appreciate that.” Maybe if I am the same size maybe that will bode in my favor if I can be as tough as he was, but obviously it won’t be at the same level. (Trib)

Driveway games when growing up, pretended to be…
It always switched, but for Utah media purposes, I’ll say John Stockton. But it switched all the time. It was one of those flavor of the month deals. John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek was definitely in there too. And Karl. (KALL)

One other bit I found interesting from the session was Jackson Emery talking about how the Jazz’s system differs from BYU in that “[the Jazz] force middle, [BYU] forces baseline.” (KFAN)

Ty Corbin has talked about tweaking Jerry’s system and I was under the impression (though I don’t know what gave me this impression) that one of the first adjustments would be changing the defense to force baseline instead of middle. *shrug*